31 actors denied SAG membership

H'w'd-based members crossed picket lines

The Screen Actors Guild, continuing to take a hard line on strikebreakers, has prohibited a total of 31 Hollywood-based actors from joining SAG because they crossed picket lines during last year’s strike against advertisers.

The bans, issued during the past three months, ranged from six months to five years and were handed down to actors who sought membership in the guild.

SAG’s Membership Application Review Committee has also cleared 16 other applicants who had been suspected of performing or auditioning for struck work.

The committee, which has held weekly hearings on applications by possible strikebreakers, is planning to continue working into December.

More than 1,500 non-members have been investigated for working during the strike. SAG’s national board backed off earlier this year on a previous policy to permanently bar non-union strikebreakers from joining SAG and opted instead for bans of up to five years.

“The process of screening applicants for SAG membership against the more than 1,500 records of actors who allegedly performed struck work continues, because it’s our intention to provide member benefits only to those performers who stood in solidarity with the guild during last year’s work stoppage,” said SAG spokesman Greg Krizman.

SAG has publicly identified only one such membership ban so far. SAG has also publicly identified a half-dozen members who crossed picket lines and were found guilty by trial boards. Those members include Tiger Woods and Elizabeth Hurley.